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Volunteer Nana Jill goes the extra mile

Today, 23 April, is English Language Day We’re celebrating by sharing Jill and Ajidah’s story. Jill’s one of our inspiring volunteers teaching English during New Zealand’s strict Level 4 lockdown. Ajidah’s her learner.

Jill is based at our Palmerston North centre. Like many of our amazing volunteer ESOL home tutors, has not let the Covid-19 lockdown situation prevent her from tutoring Ajidah, her learner. Ajidah is a very motivated learner and is keen to keep their sessions going in any way possible.

Each week they have tutoring sessions using WhatsApp, and Jill drops homework worksheets into Ajidah’s mailbox for her to complete.

The family are really excited about receiving the worksheets in their letterbox!

Last week, Ajidah’s internet access was cut off because they could not go into town during lockdown to pay the monthly account. Jill tried to talk them through the process of paying over the phone, but with no success. So Ajidah dropped the invoice and the money into Jill’s letterbox and then Jill paid this on their behalf.

This is a typical example of how our amazing volunteers ‘go the extra mile’ for their learners.

Jill’s next task is to try to get the newly-arrived school computer to work for Ajidah’s son.

Ajidah’s children now call Jill ‘Nana’ and it is a very reciprocal relationship. They love to see Nana arrive because she often has a little ‘treat’ in her bag!